#mino angst

Snow was falling heavily outside with the sweet scent of mulled wine lingering around when you saw his name flashing on your phone's screen. You knew you shouldn't take that, not with your fragile heart on the line, tongue wanting to dance back on those reckless words. You didn't only break his heart but smashed your own in your fist as well. Realistically speaking, in the long run, it was still better this way, you tried to convince yourself.

But was it really?

The bed felt too big, too empty and too cold without him and you were lying down, lifeless, watching the swirling snowflakes through your bedroom's window. The fairy lights, forgotten there from Christmas made everything so lovely. Ironically pretty while it stirred up memories too: playful, tipsy kisses shared under a mistletoe and watching stupid movies while cuddled up. But it didn't take long and bitter memories came back to haunt you as well: stupid arguments about the tree decorations, the Christmas party his parents had and tears ruining your makeup when he just looked at you with a resigned sigh, giving up on you and whispered Fine after you told him you wanted to break up.

The screen went dark just like the dancing flame of hope extinguished in your chest, swiftly and irreversibly, and your nails dug into the pillow under your head soaked with your salty tears. You hated yourself for the rush of feelings taking you under when the phone lit up again, his name written there engraving the syllables into your mind once again. And you made the mistake; you took it, lifting the device to your ears with shaking hands.

“Minho...” you started but your voice cracked before you could have scolded him for calling. You heard party music from there and shouting and him panting as if he had been running. Maybe he did.

"Baby…" he hiccuped and although it was a pathetic little sound, your sensitive heart churned still. He sounded drunk and desperate. He sounded like he missed you. "Can't we… go back to spring?" he asked so hopelessly and then the line went silent.

You haven’t heard from him ever since, not even when the season of withering and eternal snow has passed. You had only seen your trace in his art and yet, you were too proud to call and tell him that you wished flowers bloomed again (in your heart too).

Saying I love you had always been hard on you. The words tasted heavy in your mouth and you didn't like the weight.

But it seemed so easy to Minho, he kept saying it, murmuring it into the crook of your neck, into the coconut scented waves of your hair, kissing his way down your blade bones and biting your earlobe. He confessed over every mug of shared coffee in the morning and when he pulled you closer on the colder autumn nights, pressing kisses onto the exposed skin of your shoulders while holding you oh so close. He made it seem so easy and uncomplicated, he made the word 'love' lose its meaning because he told you even after your arguments and petty fights when you were still mad at him. He told you under the pouring rain and among colourful leaves of fall when he made you laugh in the middle of the streets. He told you when you got a promotion and he said he was proud but you could see it in his deep dark eyes that he wasn't genuinely happy about your stricter work hours and busier schedule. You blamed it on him being an artist, always so free, a bird not belonging into a cage and you hoped your embracing arms wouldn't become one of those metal jails and yet, maybe it was him who put you under pressure. Expectations you couldn't live up to made you feel like a disappointment, and what did he love in you then if not the girl you actually were? And since when did love had such conditions?

Doubts poisoned your heart more and more and nobody seemed to notice than something was inevitably wrong. All of your friends loved him, your mother was charmed and even though your father didn't think art could provide a stable income he quite liked him as well. They kept asking you about him, inviting him over to every family event of programs and sometimes you wished you could take a breather.

He loved you so much, why couldn't you love him back the same? There must have been something wrong with you because nobody had ever made you feel like the way he did and yet it wasn't enough? Because to love was to give your all, bare, flawed, willing and yet, you started asking yourself whether it was worth it. Almost eight months into your relationship you had felt as if it was wearing down on you like eight years. You could feel the storm coming. That heavy argument on that rainy night was just a prelude.

"Oh baby, I told you to take an umbrella with you, didn't I?" he greeted you as soon as you crossed the threshold, drenched, hair wet and your shoulders shaking a bit. You had a shitty day, you didn't need him preaching but you didn't want to snap at him for caring, so you let him hush you into the bathroom and took the steaming hot cup of coffee once you were wrapped in a fluffy blanket on your couch.

"Stop it," you murmured under your nose.

"What? I– I didn't do anything…"

"You baby me. You treat me like a child just because I'm forgetful and clumsy. It makes me feel like I'm your responsibility or some shit and not your girlfriend. It sucks," you spat, knuckles turning white from the force you grabbed onto the soft material of the blanket.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that," Minho apologized immediately, too soon to your liking as if he wasn't even thinking it through. Maybe that was the main problem.

"Exactly. You never mean stuff," you blamed it all on him. But most of all for saying I love you too much, making it lose its meaning.

That cold, rainy November night was the first when he slept on the couch and disappeared in the morning before you could say sorry. But it wasn't the last.

Summer was scorching hot that year. Sweat-covered bodies lying together over the duvet hoping for some breeze coming from the fan after the aircon broke at your place. The sweet taste of icy strawberry smoothies lingered in your mouth and your hands stroke down the expanse of tattoos over Minho's chest. You liked tracing the inked lines feeling goosebumps forming under your eager fingertips and watching that smile he flashed at you, in moments like this you always thought things couldn't have been more perfect.

"What about a day trip to somewhere next weekend? We could visit a beach," he suggested out of the blue but it painted a soft smile over your swollen lips.

During summer you had tons of free time next to your part-time job, even took up an occasional journalist job writing when you found the topic of the next release up to your liking. Minho told you that you should have spent more time writing, finding a full-time job based on that instead of the administrative one you had currently. He liked to read your stuff, be it a short story or a semi-academic article about rhetorics in k-pop MVs. On one hand it was flattering how much belief he had in you but on the other, it caused you distress because it wasn't that easy. He chose art, a risky way, but he had already found sponsors with his talent, so he spoke easily but writing was different. So you always hushed his encouragement away.

"Okay, let's do that. Where to?" you looked up at him with a wide smile, eyes sparkling from excitement.

"Dunno. Anywhere is fine as long as it's with you," he said so casually that you had the urge to bury your face into your hands.

"Eww, that's cheesy. Don't say that," you shook your head giggling, turning your body to reach for your phone on the bedside table.

Back on your stomach, nuzzling close to him, you opened up the browser, scanning through the map to find a good destination. Though it was hard to concentrate on the task at hand with his artist fingers drawing skillful patterns on your bare back. On days like this, in moments like this, it was so easy to be (in love) with him.

It was a heavily flower-scented spring, the cherry blossoms just bloomed, painting the streets of Seoul all shades of pink. One could breathe in the season of rebirth even through the thick smog over the metropolis. However, you had rather breathed words and art, bathing in culture at its finest, wondering of whys as if you could find the answer of the universe in a drop of pigment.

“You have been standing there for quite a while,” a deep voice noted startling you out of your daze, making you turn your head towards the source on instinct only to find a young, tall, handsome man next to you. You liked to think you had an eye for beauty and you could see it painted in his features. He wasn't pretty or ugly, he wasn't flawless or artificial. There was some raw strength in the sharp lines of his features but there was undeniable softness in the caramel brown of his eyes.

“Ah yeah. I try to figure this one out,” you collected yourself quickly, looking back at the abstract portrait of a woman.

“What about it?” The guy only a few years older than you asked, curiosity taking a hold of him. You didn't mind, you liked talking about art.

“It has such happy colours and yet it's just so sad. A mess of emotions really,” you explained the cause of your confusion as well as the reason of your awe. It was interesting how an artist using the bright colours of the Sun and fire and flowers could emphasis such raw sorrow just because of the facial expression and the painting technique alone.

“Are you here alone?” the stranger asked and it tugged on the corner of your mouth.

“Nah, I came with a friend but she ditched me to talk with the curator,” you shrugged because you didn't really mind wandering around all by yourself. And apparently, you weren't alone anymore as you looked up at the guy to introduce yourself, so he could match a name with the strange obsession about paradoxical art.

“I'm Minho, or Mino as my friends call me. Glad to meet you,” he smiled down at you and his eyes narrowed cutely from the motion. However, your attention snapped back to the painting, or more precisely the little white card next to it, displaying the title and the name of the artist.

“You… wait! Is this your painting?” Your jaw dropped as you looked up at him. You couldn't help but found his laugh endearing.

“Yeah,” he chuckled, ruffling his hair before clearing his throat. "What do you say? Wanna grab a coffee and talk about stuff like my art while you wait for your friend?"

You didn't even have to think. You just smiled, having a good feeling about it, feeling that he could become someone you can't forget easily.

He hadn’t been expecting it; when you break up with someone, especially someone you thought was your Forever, you don’t even think about meeting someone else... falling in love with someone else. But that’s what happened.

She had broken his heart last Christmas. You had mended it this Christmas.

A crowded room, friends with tired eyes I'm hiding from you, and your soul of ice My god, I thought you were someone to rely on Me? I guess I was a shoulder to cry on

Just lying here with you, Mino couldn’t stop himself from thinking about January. The time in-between when she left and you arrived.

What a horrible month it had been.

His friends had somehow convinced him to go to a New Year’s Eve party, one thrown by another friend every year. It was tradition, and it would be good for him. He needed to get out and try to at least pretend to be normal.

But all of that went out the window when he walked into his friend’s house and saw her. He immediately grabbed a drink and found a corner to hide in, and unsurprisingly, it turned out to be the worst New Year’s Eve of his life.

But her? She’d been fine. Or, at least, she had seemed fine. She’d been laughing and smiling and drinking and chattering and if she’d seen him, she hadn’t let on.

Had it all been a lie? Had he merely been someone for her to pass the time? Have fun with?

A face on a lover with a fire in his heart A man under cover but you tore me apart Now, I've found a real love you'll never fool me again

You hadn’t been naive. When you’d first met Mino, you’d known something was wrong. He barely talked about it, simply telling you he’d been through a break-up recently.

But you’d been able to tell he wasn’t himself. Even without knowing him that well, it was obvious. So you’d been careful for the first few months. You hadn’t pushed him, you’d taken things slowly.

By the time June rolled around, you could tell Mino was realizing you weren’t going anywhere. You weren’t going to hurt him like she had - whoever she was.

And now, by December, things finally felt... I don’t know. It was hard to explain. But you didn’t feel like you had to be careful anymore. You had his heart completely, and you knew you would never break it.

You’d been thinking about this for weeks, and right now - lying here cuddling with Mino, barely talking, merely enjoying each other’s company... you knew now was the right time.

“I love you,” you said softly, your fingers gently curling around his shirt. You didn’t tilt your head to look up at him, not yet. But you felt him take a deep breath in.

“I love you, too,” he replied. He was very obviously smiling, and you felt him place a kiss on the top of your head. He held you tighter. And your heart nearly burst.

You figured last Christmas had probably been the worst, but now you knew. Now you were certain. This Christmas would be the best.

“Where do you want me to put them?” He asked.

“In the back seats, please.” You told him.

Once you have finished putting all the cages inside your car, you smiled at him.

“Thank you so much, sir.” You said.

“Please, call me Mino...” He smiled, waiting for you to tell him your name.

“Y/n, my name is y/n.” You said blushing slightly.

Mino's smile grew wider. "You have a beautiful name."

"Typical." You thought, but for some reason, you had a smile in your face. "Thank you." You chuckled.

"Well y/n, I have to go, but I hope we can see each other again." He smiled and you said goodbye to him.

You got in your car and started to drive to your work. You were a kindergarten teacher, you loved kids and you would spend your whole days with them.

You parked the car in the parking lot and you started to get off the car the cages with all the new children's toys.

"Hey y/n? Do you need help?" Jiyeon, one of the teachers and, also, your best friend, asked.

"Yes, please, I can't carry all these cages alone." You said.

She smiled to you ad picked up some of the cages.

"Wow, how have you brought all the boxes alone?" She asked.

You picked the rest of the boxes and you started to walk to the classrooms.

"A guy helped me." You said.

She sent you a mischievous look and you rolled your eyes while giggled.

"I don't even know him Jiyeon." You said.

"At least he was hot?" Your friend asked and you smiled widely with the thought of Mino, your cheeks started to feel hot and you chuckled.

"Yes."

20:11 pm.

You were walking your dog in the park, you loved walking in the park at this time, the atmosphere was calm and the breeze relaxed you.

Suddenly, Byeol started to bark to a little squirrel which was in a tree.

"Oh come on Byeol..." you said trying to separate your dog from the tree.

The little squirrel, afraid of the continuous barking of Byeol, ran away, and to your surprise, your dog too.

“BYEOL COME BACK HERE.” You shouted running after her.

After running for a while, you couldn’t see your dog anywhere.

“BYEOL?” You called.

You whistled, trying to catch her attention, but she didn't come.

"Fucking squirrel." You sighed and shouted her name again.

"Is this the little buddy you are looking for?" You turned around and saw the same man from this morning. "She was runnung after a squirrel." He chuckled.

"Oh God, thank you so much." You said grabbing the dog leash.

“No prob.” He said smiling.

You smiled too and you said goodbye to him.

He watched as you walked away and smiled more widely.

You were going to be his very soon, it was about time.

Saturday.

Mino looked at you through the window.

“She is prettier in the mornings.” He thought.

He thanked God that today was Saturday, he knew that you tended to stay at home on Saturdays to clean the house and organize the week.

After some minutes more about stalking you, he was ready to go, but just when he was passing in front of your house, he saw a guy knocking at your door.

“Who the hell are you?” He thought looking at the guy.

He went back to his last spot, he wasn't your brother, for sure, Mino knew that you didn't have any siblings, so who was he?

Once you opened the front door, you jumped into the guy's arms, hugging him in a way too close for Mino's liking.

You let him in with a big smile.

Mino’s anger was increasing by second, he hated how he touched you, how you gave him a cup full of hot chocolate, how you talked to him even though he couldn’t hear the conversation but most importantly, he hated him.

Why? That was an easy question to answer.

He would hate anyone who tried to separate you from him.

And he wasn’t going to let that happen, of course.

Once he finally left your house, Mino approached him.

“Mm.. Excuse me, I have my car parked right there but I don’t know what happened that it’s not working, can you give me a hand please?”

The guy hesitated for a moment, but after seeing the “worried and anguished” look that Mino was giving him, he accepted

✿.｡.: .:｡✿

You went to the kitchen to leave the dirty cups in the sink, but you stopped right away when you saw your cousin’s jacket on the chair.

You giggled because of how distracted your cousin was.

You took your phone and called him, he just left, so he couldn’t be too far from here, I could go back and pick it up without problems.

But to your surprise, he didn’t answer his phone.

You frowned your eyebrows and called him again.

“This phone is off or out of coverage.”

“What the hell.” You finally gave up, thinking that maybe, your cousin turned off his phone because he was driving and he didn’t want to be disturbed or his phone ran out of battery.

Sunday.

When you woke up, the first thing you did was check out your phone.

Nothing, your cousin didn’t answer any of your calls or texts.

You sighed and rolled your eyes, well, if your aunt didn’t kill him when he left his phone at home the day he went on a business trip for and he couldn’t communicate with anyone of the family for a week, you wouldn’t kill him for not answering you immediately.

You went to the living room and sat on the sofa, where you were greeted by Byeol.

“Good morning love.” You patted her head.

While you kept petting her, you started to think about what could you do today.

Since yesterday you ended all what you had to do, you had the whole Sunday to yourself.

You took your phone and decided to ring Jiyeon.

“Hey y/n, what’s up?” She answered.

“Hey Jiyeon, I was wondering if you wanted to go to have breakfast together?”

“Sure, I see you in 30 at the coffee shop in front of the kindergarten?” She asked.

“Okay, see you there, don’t be late.” You said.

“I don’t promise anything.” She laughed and you rolled your eyes with a smile.

When you hang up, you get yourself ready and left to the coffee shop.

Once you arrived, you looked for your friend, who hadn’t arrived yet.

You ordered a coffee and waited for Jiyeon to come.

“Y/n? What a coincidence” You looked up and saw Mino, who was smiling softly.

“Oh, Hey Mino.” You smiled back and fixing your hair.

Mino’s smile grew wider and pointed at the chair. “Do you mind if I sit here?” He asked.

“No! Of course no.” You said.

He sat in front of you and give you a deep look.

“And what are you doing here?” He asked even though he knew it perfectly.

“I am supposed to meet my friend, but she's late.” You said.

“Oh, I see... Then, I better get going, I don’t want to bother.” He said

“You can stay if you want, I pretty sure that my friend won’t mind if you stay with us.” You said.

“Don’t worry, I have things to do.” He said with a comforting smile.

You wanted to make him stay, but you didn’t know how.

Mino smiled, his heart started to get warm.

He was gaining your trust.

“We can go to have breakfast together... if you want.”

“Yes!” You immediately shut up, not wanting to sound very desperate. “I mean... yeah, I can have breakfast with you here, I work in the establishment in front of this.” You informed.

“Sounds great to me, see you at 8?” He asked.

You nodded slightly blushed and he said goodbye to you.

Some minutes after, your friend entered in the coffee shop with an apologetic look.

“I’m sorry it took me so long I swear th- wait why are you smiling?” She said sitting on the chair where Mino was sitting minutes before.

“Do you remember the guy that helped me with the cages?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, he asked me to have breakfast with him tomorrow.” You said.

“Oh my God, my driend is going to have a date?” He asked in awe.

“It’s not a date… I barely know him.” You told her.

“But that’s why dates are for, to get to know the person better.” She said.

✿.｡.: .:｡✿

Mino smiled, gain your trust has been quite easy, but he wanted more, he needed more.

He looked at the box he was carrying, a few little cameras with microphones.

Since you would be with your friend until late, Mino could break in your house and put all the cameras with no problem.

Once he arrived at your house, he could easily break in. He knew your house like the back of his palm.

But then, he started to hear barking and soon, Byeol appeared in his sight.

Mino didn’t hesitate a single second and he locked her in the basement.

“Okay, let’s go.” He said to himself.

He put the first camera in the living room, the second one in the kitchen, the next one in your room, another one in the corridor and the last one, after thinking about it your a while, he ended up putting it in your bathroom.

“Done.”

✿.｡.: .:｡✿

You opened the front door of your house and you sat on your sofa with a sight.

The breakfast meet with Jiyeon turned to be a breakfast and luch meet.

“Wait.” You looked around, frowning your eyebrows.

“Byeol?” Your dog was nowhere see.

You get up from the sofa and started to look for her, until you found her in the basement.

“What were you doing there? You’ve scared me!” You said hugging your dog.

She jumped and barked, happy that she was out of there now.

“Did I leave you there without realising it? Sorry.” You said patting her head.

From the screen, Mino watched you interact with your dog.

He was happy, he could watch all your movements now, without stupid interruptions.

Monday.

You entered in the coffee shop and saw Mino already waiting for you.

“Hey, I’m sorry, I hope that I didn’t make you wait too long.” You said sitting in the chair in front of him.

“Don’t worry, I just arrived.” He smiled.

You looked at his face and you smiled to, but you quickly noticed the eye bags under his eyes.

They were really dark, as if he didn’t get any sleep at the night. Carefully, not wanting to look too bold, you brought your hand to his face, and you caressed the eye bag with your thumb.

Mino closed his eyes under your touch, but he opened again when you asked about them.

“I’ve been watching a serie the whole night and I didn’t get any sleep.” He lied, the truth was that he had been watching you sleep the whole night, since you get in bed until you woke up to get ready to come with him.

You smiled again, you couldn’t deny the fact that you were starting to fall for him, maybe you did not talk much before, but every time you did it, you felt quite comfortable.

“I ordered waffles, I hope you don’t mind it.” He said.

“I don’t! I love waffles.” You confessed

“I know.” Mino thought.

Once the food arrived, you started to eat and talk about your lifes.

When you looked at your watch, it was time for you to leave.

“I would love to stay, but I have to go to work.” You excused yourself.

“I can accompany you if you want.” He suggested and you nodded.

After he paid all the food even though that you offered to pay too, you started to walk to the kindergarten.

When you arrived, Jiyeon was already waiting for you, to enter together.

“Good morning Ji.” You greeted.

“Good morning.” She said and looked at Mino.

“Oh, Jiyeon, this is Mino uhm... My friend, and Mino, this is Jiyeon, my best friend and also teacher of the kindergarten too.” You said.

They greet each other and then Mino looked at you.

“I loved to spend time with you today, I hope we can repeat it.” He said.

You nodded and smiled to him. “I hope so too.”

Thursday.

Mino looked at the screen of his laptop.

He couldn’t remember the last time he went to sleep, but he didn’t mind, watching you was a way more interesting than sleep.

Suddenly, he heard his stomach growl, it was time to have dinner.

He went to the kitchen but when he opened the fridge, nothing, there was nothing.

He sighed and decided to go to eat out.

Once he connected all the cameras to his phone, he took his earphone and he went to a grocery store near his house.

He was buying some instant noodles when the bell rang, indicating that someone entered in the store too.

Mino didn’t bother to look for the new clients, again, watching you was more interesting.

Little did he know that your friend, Jiyeon, was the one who entered in the shop.

Your friend noticed him, and when she was about to greet him, she looked at his phone.

Horrified, she left the store without Mino seeing her.

When she got in her car, she quickly dialed your phone number.

“Hey Jiyeon! What’s up?” You asked.

“Pack your things, y/n, you need to get out of that house.” She warned.

“What are you talking about Jiyeon?” You asked confused.

“It’s Mino, y/n,he has put cameras throughout your house.” She said.

After a few minutes of silence, you spoke again. “Oh my God, I just saw one Jiyeon.” You cried.

“Pack your things, I'm going to pick you up.”

“Please, don’t hang up.” You begged.

“I won’t.” She answered.

Jiyeon searched for her keys in his bag.

When she was about to start the car, she gasped and dropped her phone at the sight of Mino looking at her through the window.

“Jiyeon? Are you okay Jiyeon?”

She started to cry and shake his head at the same time she tried to start the  car, but Jiyeon was too nervous and her body wasn’t responding.

“Jiyeon?”

“Jiyeon please, answer me.” You begged

You started to cry, you did not know what you had gotten yourself into.

You thought that Mino was a good person, he acted like a good person.

Now you are being watched by some stupid, mentally ill, your friend wasn’t answering the phone and you were afraid.

You started to cry, what are you supposed to do?

You packed all your things just like Jiyeon said and ran out of your house with Byeol.

Just when you were about to get in your car, but suddenly you felt a strong blow behind your head, and everything turned black.

✿.｡.: .:｡✿

You opened your eyes and blinked several times, trying to get used to the light.

All the previous events hit your head, so you tried to get out of bed but both your legs and hands were tied to the bed.

You started crying, trying to free yourself from the ropes that bound you, but all your efforts were in vain.

You looked around, it was dark, but a faint light shone on someone sitting on a chair.

“Jiyeon! Oh my God Jiyeon, please, answer me.” You cried.

She did not move and she was tied as well.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” You cried.

Suddenly, the door opened and Mino entered in your vision.

You started to cry harder.

How someone as Mino could have done this.

“Shh, there’s no need to cry.” He said sitting by your side.

You were sobbing now, you were terrified, terrified of what he could do to you.

“Ple- Please... I-I won’t sa-say anything...” You whispered

He caressed your face, looking at you with appreciation.

“Now that you're mine, I can’t let you go.” He said.

You started to cry again, looking at your friend now.

“She won’t answer...” He said, affirming what you feared.

She was gone.

You looked at your right, trying to avoid his gaze.

Now you were crying in silence, hoping for someone to come to rescue you.

“Please don’t be mad, all what I did is because of my love for you.” He said.

Then, he brought a pill to your face.

“Please, take this.” He said.

You shook your head and his expression changed.

“I SAID, TAKE THIS!” He shouted and you, full of fear, opened your mouth.

He inserted the pill roughly in your mouth and forced you to swallow it.

Soon, you started losing control of your body, you did not feel your limbs, you were not able to move even a single muscle.

The only thing you could do was watch as he started to untie you and place you on his lap, resting your head on his chest.

Your tears fell uncontrollably, moistening his shirt.

He placed his chin on your head and his hand on your cheek.

“Don’t cry more my darling, I'm here, I’m here to protect you ... forever.”

You sighed after you sent the voicemail. It had been quite hard to contact Mino, your boyfriend of a year and 6 months, these days. It had been like this since the past three months. Mino would only see you on weekends, that if he didn’t have any schedule, and this was already the third weekend that he missed. At first, you didn’t felt too bothered as you kept convincing yourself that Mino was just busy and tired. You knew he had been busy with his comeback and collabs. The thing that made you upset was that it didn’t feel like Mino was even trying. You were in college and you also worked part time, of course you were a busy person yourself, not as busy as him but still, that didn’t mean you couldn’t spare some time to contact him. You didn’t ask for him to call you every single time. You simply just needed him to at least spare some time to communicate with you. If he could only give you five minutes per day, you would take it as long as you could hear his voice. Heck, you would be good even if it was just for a minute.

As time passed by, you began to feel stupid. Mino wasn’t even trying to contact you, or talk to you, he just simply did whatever he could easily do. You felt stupid because also, in the past the months, college had been stressing you out to the point where you almost fainted once, but still, each and everyday, you waited for him to contact you back, tried to call him, only to get the same result every time. He would always reply back at the end of the week when his work had done and would simply take you out for some food. Then he’d call it a day.

“Well, as usual. I guess…” You sighed as you headed to bed.

The week passed like how it usually be. Then it was Saturday again.

“Hey.” You heard Mino’s voice right after you pick up your phone.

You felt almost fed up of this routine. “Hey!” But you replied in your usual cheerful voice anyway.

“Let’s grab some lunch, you must be hungry.”

“Yeah.”

“The usual?”

“The usual.”

“Okay, I’ll pick you up at 10.”

You didn’t know how you were supposed to feel. Do you love him? Well, of course. You asked yourself. But you felt stupid. You felt stupid for being the only one who tried hard. You felt like you were the only one who missed him. You missed him too much and he didn’t feel the same.

You didn’t even bother to dress up. You picked up a white T-shirt and a pair of jeans then tied your hair into a ponytail. The reflection of your face in the mirror didn’t look too great. In fact, you looked miserable. Your eye-bags stood out and you even looked skinnier than before, which was not really a good news. It had been three weeks since the last time you heard him and saw his face, but you didn’t feel excited nor happy, you felt… horrible.

You saw the clock and it was already 10am. Maybe Mino is a little bit late… you thought.

Moments passed by and you looked at the time again. 10:30.

You turned on the TV and watched some news. 11:00.

You turned off the TV and went to the toilet. You saw the clock again. 11:50.

At this point you gave up your hope. Parts of you were telling yourself that maybe Mino just wanted to end things with you but he couldn’t say it to your face. You picked up your phone, and without thinking, you called the person.

“Y/N?”

“Uh, hi?” You furrowed your eyebrows as the sound of the person picking up the phone didn’t belong to your boyfriend.

“This is Seungyoon, remember me? We met a few months ago when you brought food to our dorm.” The leader said cheerfully.

“Oh, hi Seungyoon, it’s been a while…” you said awkwardly. “Why are you answering Mino’s phone?”

“Minho is asleep and I heard his phone ringing across the room so I picked it up, then I saw it was you, so I thought why not.”

“He… he’s sleeping right now?”

“Yeah.” Seungyoon laughed, completely oblivious to the situation.

You felt hot tears dripping from your eyes. You took a deep breath and spoke again. “A-ah… I see… please tell Mino to take care.” But you weren’t so good at faking your voice.

“Y/N? Are you crying?”

“I-I’m sorry… I gotta go now.” You hung up the call.

You couldn’t believe it. Were you that unimportant that he forget your so-called date and went to sleep instead? Tears continued to fall and you hated yourself for crying. Mino clearly didn’t care for you anymore. It was as clear as crystal to you. You laid on your bed and after crying for God knows how long, you fell asleep.

That was before the sound of your doorbell, following by loud banging on the door, and shoutings of your name, woke you up.

Walking to the door, you remained silent. It would be easier to just open the door and let things go back to how it usually were, but of course you couldn’t do that. You stood there for a moment but before you realized you already grabbed your doorknob and let the man in. Your sight immediately landed on his eyes and you saw how sad he looked. You almost forgave him instantly. Almost. That was before you heard what he said.

“I’m sorry I overslept. You don’t have to cry and make it such a big deal, okay? I’m tired.” He sighed. “I still wanna go eat if you—“

SLAP

“Stop.” You said with your shaky voice.

“What the fuck?!”

“Let’s end this relationship! I can’t stand it anymore!!!”

“What??? Why are you being such a drama queen? You wanna break up just because I overslept?! Wow, I have such a great girlfriend!” Mino rolled his eyes.

“No! I’m not mad because you overslept! I’m mad because I don’t think I am important anymore to you… it’s horrible enough that I have to survive not hearing anything from you regularly…. you couldn’t even at least tried your best not to miss our lunch today…” At this point you couldn’t figure whether you were talking or crying. You weren’t even sure if Mino could hear clearly the things you said. “You’re not the only one who’s tired. You’re not the only one who has a job. Is it that impossible to spare at least a little time to just… I don’t know… tell me that you’re okay? Tell me that you’ve eaten, tell me that you’re busy and you couldn’t give more time, but it’s okay! Cause at least you’ve told me…” You sniffed. “At least I could hear something… anything from you…”

Mino stood in silence. He couldn’t form a single word.

“Minho,” Smilling bitterly, you wiped your tears. “If you don’t want to be with me anymore, if you don’t think I’m that important anymore, it’s okay. I mean, I can’t force you and your feelings because that would be very selfish of me—”

You were interrupted by Mino’s tight hug. You stood not knowing whether to hug him back or not. You couldn’t see his face and he didn’t say anything either. You were about to push him but you heard him sniffing. Sighing, you felt your tears came back once more, but this time, you didn’t feel that angry anymore. You hugged him back softly. When you let go, then was the first time you ever saw him cry.

“I’m…” He looked down. “I don’t know what else to say… am I really that horrible to you these days?” When you didn’t answer, he continued. “I’ve been too passionate with my work that I completely wiped you out of my daily life….”

“No, I never want to take away your passion! It’s okay and I completely understand that… I just wish you’d try a bit harder to contact me even though you’re busy because I missed you…” You sighed. “So… so… much…”

Mino looked up before he took your lips and kissed you. You could feel his tears on his cheeks and you bet he could feel yours too. For a good long moment, it didn’t really feel like you were just fighting minutes ago. It didn’t even feel like any of your problems existed. It was like nothing was wrong at all. When it was done, Mino looked at you and cupped your face.

“Look at you… you’re so skinny now… This is all my fault..” He sighed. “Please, give me a chance and I’ll make it up to you… Just don’t ever say that you’re okay with me leaving you ever again.”

“Promise me.”

“Anything. I’ll do anything.” Then he claimed your lips once again.

AAAAAHHH this is my first scenario so bare with me 😭 pls tell your opinions cause I really need your feedback! I honestly still need to fix here and there 😅 thank you for reading and requesting! :)

“Okay...I’ll talk to you later th...” The sound of a hung-up phone rang abruptly in your ear. “Hello?” You spoke into the phone, knowing full well that your boyfriend was no longer there. You huffed and aggressively slammed your phone down beside you and threw your body back on your bed, crossing your arms and sulking like a child who didn’t get what she wanted. Mino had been annoyed with you for what seemed like a week but was actually only four days. You had been being extra sweet to him, texting him and asking him how he is and he’s been giving you the most irritating one worded answers ever. How many times would you have to say sorry for him to get over it? So, you’d done something he warned you not too, you wouldn’t have done it if you knew that this is how he would react. You would have preferred if he just ignored you instead of treating you like some kind of acquaintance. You played with your nails as you thought about what you could do to get everything back to normal again. All you wanted to do was cuddle him and kiss him and tell him that you love him, but he had just hung up on you so there was no chance of that happening any time soon. You almost gasped when your brain began to work. Of course! Why didn’t you think of this before? There was no way he wouldn’t forgive you after this.

 The Next Morning

Mino: Thanks.

You: Do you like them? It took me sooooo long to find them, and that one was literally the last one.

Mino: Yeah. 

“REALLY?!” You shouted, the fury in your voice filling your empty apartment. Mino had wanted these stupid shoes - that you didn’t even particularly like - for the longest time and continuously complained how he could never find them and you finally found them and paid extra for next day delivery (and they were already so expensive) and all he could say was...thanks? THANKS? No phone call? No “I love you”? NO EMOJI’S?! You felt like going off on him but you knew that there was no point because he’d just ignore you. You let out an incoherent whine and huffed. “What do I have to do?” You mumbled, throwing your phone on the couch and stomping over to the kitchen. You found yourself bringing out the flour, sugar and eggs without even thinking. Desperate times calls for desperate measures aka food.

Later That Evening

You rang the doorbell once only, not doing your signature knock. You didn’t feel like it, and frankly you couldn’t. You had literally spent your whole day making food, enough to feed a village. You had made Mino cookies, cakes, brownies EVEN SUSHI. Your arms were dying as you waited for someone to open the door. Finally, the door swung open, you were greeted by a frowning Mino who probably saw you through the peep whole. You smiled sweetly, despite your tiredness and said a small “surprise!”. He looked at your face, and then your hands which were caring bags of food. He was completely expressionless. He moved to the side, allowing you to walk in and to the kitchen, disappointed by his reaction. 

“What are doing here?” He asked, coming into the kitchen and watching you empty out the bags of treats. 

“I made you food...” you pouted, not being able to help how down you were feeling. He looked at you with the most empty eyes ever and it just made you feel absolutely worthless. He nodded and went to get a glass of water, 

“thanks” he mumbled, barely even looking at you. You felt the tears brimming at your eyes as you scrunched up the plastic bags to try and calm yourself down. Was this how he was going to act forever? You had no idea what you were going to do. You bit your lip as he drank his water and you stood there awkwardly. 

“Aren’t you going to eat any?” You spoke, while playing with your fingers, not wanting to see what kind of depth-less expression he’d give you next.

“I’m not hungry.” He answered and began making his way to his room. You huffed, 

“Are you really still mad at me? I’m sorry! What else can I do? I made you sushi! SUSHI!” You spoke in your complaining tone, and watched how he stopped in his tracks, but did not turn around. “I said I’m sorry but you just keep on ignoring me and all of my efforts. Just tell me what to do instead...or shout at me...or do anything else. Please just stop acting like this.” You felt a single tear trickle down your face like a rain drop and you hastily wiped it away. Mino knew that you would be crying from the sound of your voice and spun around just as you wiped the tear from your cheek. He beamed widely as you ducked your head to avoid his gaze. Did you seriously just see him smile? You suddenly felt his presence beside you, and heard the click of a container opening. You looked up and saw him pick up and brownie and put in his mouth. His eyes over dramatically lit up and he looked at, 

“WOW! Jagiya! These are so good! Did you seriously make these?” He opened the next container hastily and bit into one of the cookies, gasping. He continued to do this with all the food until his mouth was full and he was just chewing a mixture of everything. His eyes were wild with excitement, a complete contrast to what they were like previously. You stared at him in utter confusion. He finished chewing and took a second to grin at you in delight. You took his wrist as he went onto the next container. 

“Mino...what...” you began, but you were cut off by his lips stopping yours from speaking. You gasped when you felt him kissing you and your eyes flew open for a second. You couldn’t force yourself to relax into the kiss. You were too confused. What on earth was going on? Was he still mad at you? Was he ever really mad at you? He pulled away and raised his eyebrow at you, 

“Yah. Why aren’t you kissing me back?” 

“Because...what? What are you doing?” You pushed him back a little, needing to study the expression on his face. He only smiled. “I’m so confused. Are you still mad at me?” He chuckled and pulled you into him, wrapping his arms around you and hugging you tightly while swaying back and forth. He sighed as you stood frozen in his arms, 

“ahh, my little y/n. My sweet, sweet y/n. Look at everything you did just to make me speak to you properly.” It took you a few seconds before you realised exactly what was going on. You pushed him away and hit his chest, he only laughed in response but you were being absolutely serious. 

“Are you being serious right now Mino?! This was all just a stupid...test! Really?! Do you know how much those shoes were! DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO MAKE ALL OF THIS FOOD?!” He laughed again at your irritated expression and seriousness. 

“Yep.” He gave you a thumbs up and quickly backed away, avoiding your fist. He couldn’t stop laughing and came closer to give you a pat on the head as you glared at him. How did you not see this coming? 

“Are you annoyed?” He took you by your shoulders and looked you in the eye, still not being completely serious. 

“Yes. You jerk.” You answered and he still smiled as if you had just told him you loved him. 

“Good. Now you know how it feels to be annoyed.” He gave your shoulders a little shake before getting off of you and going back to the food. “And this food is really good you know. It must have taken you ages....wha...HEY!” You snatched the brownie that was edging towards his lips and put it back into the container. You placed the lid on it and clicked it closed. He smirked, “what do you think you’re doing with my food y/n?” 

“You’re food? You don’t deserve this after tricking me like that. You’re so mean. Do you know how shitty I felt? You absolute...” you moaned in annoyance as he kissed you again to get you to shut up. You pushed him away, 

“stop that!” You groaned, trying to stay annoyed. 

“Stop what?” He kissed you again as you were about to speak. 

“Min-” you tried again, but just as before your voice was turned into silence as he put his lips on yours. You hit his shoulder to get him off but he didn’t budge. You rolled your eyes and just gave in, unable to resist his lips for too long. You felt his cocky smirk against your lips as you finally kissed him back and wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him closer to you. You pulled away once you were feeling a bit out of breath. He placed several small pecks on your lips before looking at you and tucking a loose strand of hair behind your ear. 

“Don’t do that again okay?” He mumbled, being serious for once and looking at you dead in the eye. You nodded and he smiled, winning whatever competition he believed the two of you were having in his head. 

“You too! If you ever do this again...I’m going to kill you.” You took the brownie in his hand and took a bite, earning a playful glare from him. 

“Deal.” He nodded, taking your bitten brownie and putting it in his own mouth. 

Hyejin laughed to herself, disappearing quickly to reveal a few utensils and chopping board. “Yeah, I guess... Mind peeling those carrots for me?”

You nodded wordlessly, grabbing the peeler and one of the smaller carrots to start. There was silence for a brief moment before Hyejin began.

“I knew that you had feelings for Mino, long before he and I were actually engaged.” She cast a subtle glance to you, watching as your movements paused as you took in the information.

“Was I obvious?”

“No, you weren’t, I just have a great tendency to notice these things... And when I noticed, I felt terrible.” She explained. “I didn’t want to be that girl who ruined whatever you two had, but I didn’t want to lose whatever I had with Mino either... And since we’re all so selfish naturally, I pretended to ignore knowing about it and just relished in what we had.”

“And then what you had got boring and you left?”

She shook her head at your remark. “It’s more complicated than that, really, don’t just disregard what I have to say because I did something most people wouldn’t approve of.”

Every word of her sentence was punctuated with a firm chop, the sound washing over the hum of the heater.

“Things were fine for the most part, you didn’t seem to hate me for being with Mino, Mino and I were going strong and everything seemed to be okay... And then when he asked to marry me, things started...changing.”

You stopped and took your turn to glance at her, noticing her furrowed brows and lips pulled into a tight line.

“Whatever happened between you and him at our engagement party changed him... He said you got more distant, that he was worried about you and, whatever was happening with you and Jiho. And, while you were apparently pulling away from him, Mino started to pull away from me. He argued he didn’t want to intervene too much with me planning the wedding, but I knew it was different... And though I had tried to ignore your feelings for my then fiancé, I didn’t realise that I was also ignoring his feelings for you.”

There was a sad smile on her face as she moved on to chopping the newly peeled carrots, moving the other vegetables aside to make room for the other produce.

You placed the peeler down, watching the other woman’s movements carefully.

“You grew distant from Mino, Mino grew distant from you, and I was left to hold on to the shreds of whatever self control I had left... It’s sad, really...”

“Is that when you started to move on?”

She sighed softly. “I had to move on. It was at that point I realised that I couldn’t keep lying to myself and pretending that you two didn’t have some sort of mutual attraction to each other... Whether or not Mino loved you the same way you loved him was beside the point, all I knew that I couldn’t – I didn’t want to come between you two anymore...

“My new boyfriend is a sweetheart, so much like Mino when things were simpler. He knew about the engagement and was willing to wait for me to end it, wanted to help make everything a little easier in moving on... He was different, and different was so nice of a change. I lived my life trying to let Mino down easy, to convince him that it wasn’t worth marrying me but... He was so occupied with you that nothing seemed to work. It was like I was stuck between a rock and a hard place...”

She turned away momentarily to ready the stove before turning back, resuming her remedial task.

“Were you planning on marrying him on the day of the wedding?”

She didn’t answer and you tried to stop yourself from glaring menacingly.

“You know that that day you ran you broke two people’s hearts.”

Hyejin looked away from her task in confusion. “Two?”

You nodded. “I’m surprised you noticed me and yet could not read Jiho as well as you could.”

A moment of realisation flashed through her eyes before she let out a chuckle. “Kind of like you and Mino?”

You didn’t stop from narrowing your eyes this time.”Yeah well, I was trying to move on too. You made Mino happy; I didn’t want to get in the way of that.”

“Then I guess we’re both a little numb to the affections of people we care about.”

The silence was thick between the two of you, only broken by the final thuds of her knife against the chopping board.

You sighed. “So what made you leave that day? Cold feet?”

Hyejin turned to the stove with the rest of the vegetables she had chopped and pushed them into the pan. “The wedding planner told me about how on edge Mino was in the lead up to the wedding and had been trying to get Jiho to get you... And then she said she saw you in his room with him a few minutes before the wedding began. So I had thought-”

The pan sizzled as she continued to push the ingredients around.

“I thought you two had made up. And if you two were fine then I... I could remove myself from the situation... And yeah, I guess I had cold feet to an extent, but I was more concerned with the future I had being away from you all than what would end up happening to you because of me.”

You absorbed her words in silence, trying to fully comprehend how it all went wrong while pushing down the anger you felt towards her for hurting your best friend – or whatever he was to you at that point. You listened to Hyejin’s words, the subtle implication of her explanation pinning this all back to you. You didn’t like that idea, but the more you thought the more you couldn’t help but wonder if she was right.

You shut your eyes and inhaled deeply, trying to let your mind rest for even a second. “Is all the air clear?”

Hyejin shook her head and turned back around to face you, “No, not yet.”

You raised your eyebrow at her. “Oh?”

“I’m sorry,” she began, hands balling into fists as she laid them against the countertop, the smell of your dinner still cooking wafting over you both. “If I was honest and straight up with you then this whole problem wouldn’t have happened and maybe you and Mino would have been together – been happy together.”

You widened your eyes in surprise, not ready for the apology that passed through her lips. And there it was – the guilt that you had not considered throughout the entire time you had been in her apartment. There was the girl who you thought could do no wrong, who you thought would make Mino’s life complete, apologising for ruining what she believed was meant to happen between the two of you.

“I... Hyejin, don’t... Don’t feel bad.” You replied, feeling the syllables stutter out past your lips. “Trust me; my circumstance would have probably ended up the same either way. But, uh, thank you for telling me your side...”

Hyejin released her fists and let her palms rest flat upon the countertop, a look of confusion crossing her face. “What do you mean?”

“It’s a long story, it starts around the same time you and Mino became official...” You explained sheepishly.

“Well dinner’s almost done, maybe I can help? I-It might not be much but-”

“I’ll take what I can get Hyejin,” you interrupted with a smile, “I don’t think me mulling this over alone will help me.”

The woman smiled and cast a glance over her shoulder towards the food cooking on the stovetop. “Great, at least we’ll have a relatively lively dinner.”

You felt your smile widen, the corners of your mouth pressing firmly into your cheeks. “I guess so.”

“Thank you Hyejin, really... It means a lot to me that we were able to clear this up.”

“Yeah well, you deserved answers, and I felt like I had to make something right in all this mess I made.”

You stood on the outside of Hyejin’s apartment, leftovers packed away in a tied up plastic back you held in your left hand.

“I hope there are no hard feelings after tonight, [Y/N]. I know that it got pretty tense in there.”

You shook your head, “It’s fine really... Thanks for dinner as well, that was really nice of you.”

“Don’t mention it, it was a nice change from what we had going before...” Hyejin scratched the back of her head and straightened her shirt out. “We should do that again some time.”

“Clear the air?” You mused.

“Catch up like normal adults.”

You nodded, “I’d like that... Maybe after I’ve figured out what’s going on with me.”

Hyejin laughed and took her turn to nod, “It’ll work out, and I know you’ll make the right choice.”